What impact could this psychotropic medicine have on pregnancy?

Prescriptions for a drug that has been used to treat epilepsy and has been prescribed as a mood stabilizer for people experiencing mental illness has increased by nearly a third over the past 10 years, according to recent Medicare figures. But the impact on the health of women who use this drug while pregnant has raised some concerns.

Epilim (sodium valproate) has more frequently been prescribed to people with depression and anxiety, and even though the side effects of psychotropic drugs on patients are relatively well known, the impact they have on a developing foetus or a baby breastfeeding are not.